A New User’s Guide to Tumblr

Even though social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have dominated the social media space for the better part of the current decade, Tumblr has been making waves in recent years among Internet users with its cool customizable features.  For those who are new to Tumblr, it is a blogging platform that is a cross between social networking and full scale blogging.  To explain it in colloquial terms, it is kind of a blogging way of social interaction.  The proof that Tumblr is soaring in popularity is the fact that it is not only used by individual users but also by brands.  Some of the well-known brands that use Tumblr are Four Square, The New Yorker and Mashable.

What Makes Tumblr Different?

But before we get into why brands are using Tumblr, let us explain a few vital things about Tumblr.  The essential thing about Tumblr is that it is meant for social interaction.  Most users do not post rants or other opinions pieces or other content that generally elicits comments from other users.  Tumblr is kind of a long form version of Twitter.  As soon as you have set up your blog on Tumblr, you have the option of “following” other bloggers and can be “followed” yourself.  In order to do that you need to go to the “Explore” option.  Over here you will find a lot of topics being discussed.  You can follow any topic that you find interesting out there.  As a newcomer on Tumblr, you will want to start filling out your home page.  This is the one sure shot way of ensuring that other users will follow your Tumblr blog.  People will obviously start following you if you have interesting content on your homepage.  Apart from posting content yourself, you can also “reblog” posts by other users, if you find it interesting and relevant to the content that you want to have on your page.

How to Get More Followers on Tumblr

“Reblogging” is quite the "thing to do” on Tumblr, and everybody does it.  So, new users need not be hesitant.  If you see a Tumblr blog you like, take your cursor to the right hand corner on the upper side of the blog and click the “reblog” icon, which is similar to the “retweet” icon on Twitter.  Though Tumblr is a social networking platform, the process of leaving comments is a little different than the other websites in the space.  

In order to keep a check on the traffic on your blog, Tumblr only allows replies from the people who are following you; moreover, only the people who have been following you for more than two weeks are allowed to leave comments on your Tumblr blog.  Aside from these customizable features, there are a lot of backgrounds and themes available to choose from in order to set the “look and feel” and further customize your Tumblr account.  Whether the posted content is in the form of text, quotes, audio or video, with Tumblr, you can do it all.  You also have the option of auto syndication with other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Prabu Mani is an electronics engineer.  Since 2004, he has been writing for various content development firms in India, including Mobius Knowledge Services, Writing-Counseling.com, and Status InfoTech.  Prabu also served as a business development manager for Streta Systems and Technologies as well as Sumeru Software.  He also has 3+ years’ experience in providing SEO services for international clients.

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